The Order of Speeches in Plato’s Symposium:
A New Ascent Interpretation
Adrian Buchbinder
Wake Forest University
Abstract: An interpretation of Plato’s Symposium according to which the order of
speeches represents an ascent is attractive for a number of reasons. However, two
major challenges have stood in the way of such an interpretation: to explain how
Aristophanes’ speech can represent an advancement over Eryximachus’ scientism,
and to explain how Agathon’s poorly regarded speech can be intended to pave the
way for Socrates’ solution. I argue that Aristophanes’ speech precedes that of
Eryximachus in the ‘real’ order. Next, I show that Agathon’s speech contains
overlooked themes that closely prefigure Socrates’ own views about education and
virtue. These corrections to understanding Symposium reveal both its ascent theme
and an intimate philosophical connection between Symposium, Republic, and
Phaedrus.
I.
Does the order of speeches in Symposium represent an ascent?
Commentators on Plato’s Symposium have long wondered whether the order
of speakers in the discussion it depicts itself has any particular meaning. Given
Diotima’s central use of a ladder as ascent metaphor, the repeated ascent theme in
Republic and the Phaedrus, and the fact that Symposium shares with Republic and
Phaedrus the characteristic of focusing on the process of attaining virtue (as opposed
to the nature of virtue), the notion that the speeches trace some sort of ascent—
recapitulated in Diotima’s discussion of the ladder—is very attractive. Some
commentators, for these and other reasons, have argued that Symposium takes the
form of a dialectical ascent, with the speeches as components.1 But there are several
1
For an overview of previous ascent readings of Symposium, see Rosen, pp. 30-8.
1
challenges to an ascent interpretation that have prevented any fully satisfactory
reading of the dialogue along these lines. 2 Despite strong textual and thematic
indications to the contrary, there has so far been no successful representation of the
order of the speeches in Symposium as an ascent. I believe that the order of speeches
in Symposium is indeed meant to represent an ascent, and that previous commentators
have made key mistakes in reading this extraordinarily elegant and carefully
constructed piece.
There are two seemingly insurmountable challenges to a convincing ascent
interpretation of Symposium:
• How could Aristophanes’ speech—revolving around instinctive
physical desire—represent an advancement over Eryximachus’
scientism?
2
In “A Dual Dialectic in Symposium,” Dorter argues that Symposium exhibits a complex doubledialectic structure: one dialectic on conceptions of the good, and one on conceptions of Eros.
However, even he admits that this hypothesis “imputes to Plato a higher degree of structural
planning and subtlety than most interpreters would consider plausible” (Dorter, p. 255) On the basis
of the claim that Agathon’s speech is of lesser quality than Aristophanes’, and that Phaedrus’ speech
supplies a superior conception of Eros to Pausanias’, some reject the notion that there is an
ascending order based on quality (Bury, p. liii). Lowenstam argues that the sequence of the first five
speeches, in their original (pre-hiccupping) order, is designed to introduce topics in the same order
in which Socrates takes them up in his speech. However, Lowenstam’s re-creation is more complex
than this. His re-creation (Lowenstam, pp. 51-2) includes not only the topics of the first five
speeches, but also the topic of Alcibiades’ speech and several other topics in common interspersed
among them. The complexity of this re-creation does not sit well with the notion of a simple
relationship between the order of the speeches and the ascent Socrates describes. Corrigan and
Glazov-Corrigan (Corrigan and Glazov-Corrigan, pp. 151-5) claim a linear ascent through the first
five speeches that suffers from several serious overreaches: Phaedrus’ speech , for example, is
supposed to represent the transition from love of a single body to love of bodies generally by
focusing on love of a single body; Pausanias is supposed to represent love of the soul by confusing
love of soul with gratification of sexual desire; and Aristophanes is supposed to represent the
transition to the study of beauty itself by describing physical unions as motivated by a longing for
wholeness.
2
• How could a clunky speech by a mere poet, Agathon, be intended to
pave the way for Socrates’ solution?
The relative importance of Aristophanes’ speech, and the relative unimportance of
Agathon’s, have almost become tropes or articles of faith among readers of
Symposium. I shall argue that we are intended to consider Aristophanes’ speech as
preceding Eryximachus’ in the ascent, and that Agathon’s speech includes oftenoverlooked themes that place his conception of Eros some minor correctives behind
that of Socrates/Diotima. The order of the speeches in Symposium is meant to suggest
an ascent based on a theory of human development through education elucidated in
Republic. In other words, the order of speeches in Symposium represents an ascent in
terms of both knowledge and virtue perfectly mirrored by the path to virtue described
by Diotima. The structural organization of Symposium reflects the structural elements
of Plato’s understanding of education and virtue; in this way, Symposium functions as
a very close companion piece to Republic.
The speeches of Symposium are delivered in the following order (thanks to the
fact that the inceptive order is disrupted by Aristophanes’ hiccupping): Phaedrus =>
Pausanias => Eryximachus => Aristophanes => Agathon => Socrates. On my
reconstruction, the ascent as recapitulated by Diotima follows this order, but with the
positions of Aristophanes and Eryximachus reversed (i.e., following their seating
order) in revealing a path to virtue.
II.
Phaedrus and Pausanias
It is easy to see how the speech of Phaedrus represents the antithesis of a
proper approach to knowledge and virtue. Phaedrus is roundly criticized by Socrates
in the Phaedrus for supplying a discourse that is tedious, repetitive and poorly
3
organized (263c-d).3 In Symposium his speech makes reference to both Hesiod and
Homer (178b, 179d-180b), each of whom is identified in Republic as an example of a
poet who promotes the wrong virtues and does not have knowledge of his subjects
(377d-383c, 595b-608b). A central theme of his speech is that one of the greatest
goods that comes from Eros is that lovers are motivated to appear brave because they
are concerned about their image in the eyes of their beloved (178c-179b).4 Thus
Phaedrus clearly emphasizes the importance of appearance. Citing this fact, Rosen
characterizes Phaedrus’ conception of Eros as a “substitute for”—or imitation of—
virtue.5 Even in this, however, Phaedrus may be mistaken: from Xenophon comes the
point that it is dubious that “persons acquiring a habitual indifference to censure and
to abandoned conduct towards one another will be most likely to be deterred by
shame from any infamous act.” 6 The focus on appearance, and consequent threat of
loss of self-control, reminds us of Plato’s comments on mimesis and vice in
Republic, as well as the fanciful descriptions of a lover’s failings in Phaedrus.
Finally, Phaedrus makes several mistakes; most notably, he plainly contradicts
himself on the subject of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in the
Iliad.7
Next up is Pausanias. His speech is to a great degree an attempt to justify his
own pederasty.8 Bury remarks that Pausanias’ arguments “display the cleverness of a
first-rate pleader.”9 He also notes that Pausanias “poses as a conventionalist, and a
relativist, and a champion of law as against nature...; and this is of itself sufficient to
3
See Allen, p. 12. All translations of passages from Symposium by Allen.
See Dorter, p. 258.
5
Rosen, p. 53.
6
Cited in Allen, p. 14.
7
See Bury, p. xxv.
8
See Allen, p. 17, and Rosen, p. 61.
9
Bury, pp. xxvi-xxvii; cited in Allen, p. 19.
4
4
show that, in Plato’s eyes, he is a specimen of the results of sophistic teaching.” He is
“master of the ringing tautology”.10 Pausanias wears his rhetoric on his sleeve: his
arguments shamelessly exploit sophistical methods in order to make his point. Dorter
observes that he uses the terms “noble” and “shameful” in three distinctly different
and inconsistent senses.11 Most shockingly, Pausanias actually claims that the lover is
justified in any behavior, no matter how base or shameful, in pursuing his beloved
(182e-183c).12 This is, of course, antithetical to Plato’s conception of virtue.
Pausanias is thus painted by his speech as a kind of rhetorician who is
concerned more with convincing the listener than with arriving at the truth. Sophists
need not have any knowledge of their topic in order to be successful: all they require
is the ability to flatter and manipulate the listener, and to create the appearance of
good reasoning and truth where there is none.13 In Republic (492-494; see also 539bc) Socrates describes in detail the difference between sophistry and knowledge, and
the corrupting influence this art can have on the education of the young. Because it is
also concerned with appearance rather than reality, Pausanias’ speech is an
appropriate companion to Phaedrus’, and, like Phaedrus’, calls to mind the state of
being on the Divided Line standing furthest from reality and true knowledge thereof.
Even for all this, there are indications that Pausanias could stand as an
advancement on Phaedrus’ thinking. Pausanias criticizes Phaedrus for having omitted
considerations of character. Pausanias is at least concerned with the soul and its
development, and describes himself as being more concerned with the soul than with
10
Allen, p. 16.
Dorter, p. 259.
12
See Allen, p. 17, and Dorter, pp. 258-9.
13
See, for example, Gorgias 464b-466a.
11
5
the physical. By reading Symposium as an ascent, this contrast with Phaedrus may be
significant.
III. Aristophanes’ hiccups
Despite—and partly owing to—the fact that Aristophanes’ hiccups prevent
him from speaking before Eryximachus, I believe that the dialectical ascent of
Symposium is meant to be represented by an order of speeches set by the seating
order rather than the speaking order—i.e., the speech of Aristophanes comes before
Eryximachus.
There has been plenty of disagreement on this point. Grube ignores the
hiccupping incident altogether;14 Guthrie argues that hiccups would be common at a
drinking party, and that the incident is there simply to add a touch of realism to the
proceedings.15 In making these judgments, these commentators fail to sufficiently
credit the fact that Symposium is a carefully crafted work. Its artificial nature is
evidenced by the double narration and the inclusion of obvious anachronism (182b,
193a). 16 The discussion is clearly intended to be read as a fictional account
constructed to make a point. For this reason, the idea that the hiccupping incident,
and the consequent switch in speaking order, is accidental or inconsequential is
implausible.
The real intentions behind the inclusion of the hiccupping incident will never
be known for certain; the idea I shall propose is a bit more plausible than many
previous explanations of the incident. Brentlinger maintains that the hiccupping
incident is mostly comic; however, he also feels (rather incongruously) that the
switch with Eryximachus makes it possible for Aristophanes to serve as a “wise
14
Grube, pp. 98-9.
Guthrie, p. 382.
16
See Allen , p. 5.
15
6
critic” of the preceding three speeches. 17 Although Aristophanes does mention
Eryximachus and Pausanias in his speech, he does not offer anything that directly
addresses either of their views. Aristophanes also mentions Agathon in connection
with his thesis, and fails to mention Phaedrus. Brentlinger does not identify what
elements of Aristophanes’ speech serve as criticism of the preceding speeches.
Rosen thinks that the substitution of Eryximachus subordinates the poetry of
Aristophanes to the technism of Eryximachus, and also indicates Plato’s own
preference for Aristophanes. 18 The difficulty with this interpretation should be
obvious: Rosen is suggesting that Plato intended with the same event both to
denigrate and to promote a certain view. There is straightforward evidence that the
doctor’s world-view is to be preferred to Aristophanes’, in that Eryximachus, “fighter
of eructations,” is the provider of the successful cure for Aristophanes’ hiccups. In
this way it does make sense that the incident subordinates the poetry of Aristophanes
to the technism of Eryximachus. But it is difficult to see how the hiccupping incident
is supposed to indicate a preference for Aristophanes.
Oddly enough, Allen takes a position very similar to Rosen’s. He thinks that
the purpose of the incident is to call attention to the drinking habits of Aristophanes
and the medical knowledge of Eryximachus, and at the same time to emphasize the
importance of Aristophanes’ speech by mentioning it and deferring it.19 The incident
does indeed serve the former function. But it seems very unlikely that Plato would
hope to emphasize the importance of a speech through an incident making its speaker
appear drunken and foolish. Surely the speaker’s being portrayed as a buffoon would
tend to downplay the seriousness of his presentation.
17
Brentlinger, pp. 12-3.
Rosen, pp. 91-2.
19
Allen, p. 20.
18
7
Finally, Dorter claims that the speech of Eryximachus is body-oriented and the
speech of Aristophanes is soul-oriented, and that the hiccupping incident is intended
to illustrate the superiority of soul over body.20 But if Eryximachus’ speech is
intended to represent a bodily orientation and that of Aristophanes a spiritual
orientation, then it would make more sense for Eryximachus to be the victim of
hiccups: he would then be the one experiencing corporeal failings. Instead, it is
Aristophanes who loses control over his body. He is made to look the fool and must
be rescued by Eryximachus. Also, as I shall discuss below, Dorter’s characterization
of the orientation of Aristophanes’ speech is inaccurate.
The dialogue makes clear that the physical arrangement of the speakers
determines the order of the speeches. Socrates’ late entry, and Agathon’s subsequent
and deliberate placement of him to his right, for example (175c-d), ensures that
Socrates will be speaking last. The hiccupping incident disrupts the order determined
by the seating arrangements. Aristodemus is careful to note that Aristophanes was
“supposed to speak” after Pausanias (185c), just as Eryximachus is careful to make
clear what the disruption entails: “I’ll take your turn speaking, and you take mine
when you stop” (185d). I tentatively suggest that the hiccups could be intended, in
part, to help emphasize the non-accidental nature of the order of the speakers by
highlighting the fact that it takes an accident—Aristophanes’ ailment—to disrupt the
intended order. Note also the almost obsessive concern over seating and speaking
order after Alcibiades arrives (222e-223b).
The hiccupping incident, by itself, could mean any number of things; the
proposed ascent context is the best reason for the proposed reading. That
Aristophanes’ speech is the one that, from the point of view of a formal order of
20
Dorter, p. 262.
8
speeches, is intended to be considered after Pausanias’ is most strongly indicated by
the nature of Aristophanes’ and Eryximachus’ speeches and their relation to the other
speeches. Like the speeches of Phaedrus and Pausanias, and unlike any of the other
speeches, Aristophanes’ speech focuses on sex. The speeches of Phaedrus and
Pausanias explain sexual attraction by reference to the creation of images in the eyes
of others. Aristophanes’ speech explains sexual attraction by reference to bodily
characteristics: the physical separation of the circle-beings explains our desire for
physical intimacy with others (191a-b). His is a grotesque farce that includes three
visceral metaphors for the initial physical separation—the beings are sliced like
serviceberries (190d-e), eggs (190e), or flatfish (191d)—and an explicit description
of the various surgical operations performed by Apollo (190e-191a) and Zeus (191bc) to reconfigure the physical shapes and genitalia of the new half-beings.
Aristophanes explains sexual attraction by reference to this physical event: erotic
desire stems from the urge to experience a bodily reunion. Desire for kinship or
friendship, along with other forms of attraction, is caused by, and secondary to,
physical attraction (192b-c). Pace so many strained readings to the contrary, it is just
so much more straightforward to read Aristophanes’ speech as having a strong
orientation towards bodily attraction!
Eryximachus, by nature of his profession, is also concerned with bodily
matters. However, his speech represents a higher stage of human capability than that
of Aristophanes because of his craft-knowledge in the field of medicine. Rather than
a thoughtless instinct, his Eros is associated with an informed quest for health and
balance. For him, good health is the attunement of Eros in the body, Eros
representing the good and bad desires of the body (186b-c). He speaks of bodies
generally, and of general laws concerning the harmony or disharmony of the
9
conflicting desires of the body (note especially 186b and 187b). Eryximachus’ speech
represents the type of mental activity in which general laws are derived from
hypotheses based on experience and empirical models. He is concerned with bodies,
but from the point of view of a scientist: Allen notes that doctors at the time were
quite sophisticated, with some knowledge of effective pharmaceutical remedies and
the importance of diet and exercise.21 Note also that Eryximachus associates himself
with Asclepius, who (along with the “sons” [=followers] of Asclepius) is spoken of
very highly by Socrates in Book Three of Republic (408b).
For the first time in Symposium, Eryximachus’ speech directly relates Eros to
fields that do not have to do with bodily functions (186e, 187c-e, 188b-c). For
Eryximachus, Eros represents often-conflicting desires, which must be attuned in the
body by medicine or in the soul by “education and culture” (187d). He also notes
(drawing a parallel between medicine and music) “when one needs to apply rhythm
and attunement in men…here there is indeed difficulty, and need for a good
practitioner” (187c-d).
Effective medical practices require knowledge—the
knowledge of the scientist, founded on experience and used to develop widelyapplicable methods of treatment.22 Compare this to the concern with image in the
speeches of Phaedrus and Pausanias, and the blind, physical urges of Aristophanes’
account. The contrast between Eryximachus’ serious call for internal harmonizing
and Aristophanes’ silly description of uncontrollable urges is striking. As C.D.C.
Reeve observes, Eryximachus “praises orderly, harmonious, pious, temperate love,
21
Allen, p. 30.
Socrates argues in Charmides 156b-157d that the ideal doctor wouldn’t treat the body in
isolation from the soul, and the failure to appreciate this makes the physicians of Hellas much
less effective. Eryximachus focuses on treating the body, but does not ignore the need to
harmonize desires in the soul via education. My thanks to Emily Austin for drawing my attention
to this passage.
22
10
while condemning “the Pandemotic Eros of the many-tuned Muse Polyhymnia.”
Comedy, which Aristophanes represents, is thus presented as a backward turn, a step
in as anti-philosophical direction as the “satyr play—or rather Silenus play” of
Alcibiades (222d3-4).”23
IV. Agathon: Eros as educator
In addition to identifying the proper role of Aristophanes’ speech, the other
major obstacle to an ascent interpretation of Symposium is Agathon’s speech. His
speech does not, at first, seem a likely candidate for a speech that is to represent
something close to a Platonic ideal. Agathon is a tragedian and poet. His speech is
considered by many commentators to be insignificant,24 or sophistic and superficial.25
In fact, Agathon’s speech is extremely important to Plato’s goal in Symposium. It
represents a point of view that is very advanced from the standpoint of Republic’s
theory of mental development. Agathon’s speech serves a dual role in Symposium: it
serves to foreshadow and prepare the way for Socrates’ speech, and it expands the
role of Eros into several important areas described by Socrates (through Diotima) in
Symposium and by Socrates in Republic. As Sheffield notes, Socrates explicitly states
at 201d that “the nature of Eros is clarified on his own account on the basis of things
agreed between himself and Agathon.”26
The first part of Agathon’s speech (194e-196b) is a poetic encomium to Eros’
beauty. This prepares the way for Socrates’ elenchus of Agathon, in which it is
demonstrated that Eros is love of the beautiful (as Agathon has stated), but is not
himself beautiful. Yet Agathon foreshadows Socrates’ position by explaining Eros’s
23
Reeve, p. 146.
See, for example, Guthrie, p. 385, Bury, p. xxxv, and Dorter, pp. 253-4.
25
See, for example, Allen, p. 40, and Brentlinger pp. 3-4, 18.
26
Sheffield, pp. 41-2.
24
11
beauty and goodness by reference to his love of the beautiful: Eros seeks the young
(195b), and chooses to dwell only in those whose “bloom” is not “faded or gone”
(196a-b). Grube notes that Agathon anticipates two crucial points made by Socrates
by emphasizing that “Eros is always concerned with beauty, and it resides in the
souls of men.” 27As Ferrari explains,
Eros for Agathon is beautiful and good, not because his effects are, but
because he is love of the beautiful and good...now this is a most serious
conclusion….It is what enables Socrates, next to speak, to introduce Diotima’s
teaching that all love, ultimately, is love of the good, and for that reason
commendable.28
The second part of Agathon’s speech (196b-196d) concerns Eros’ virtues. These
virtues mirror the cardinal virtues as identified by Socrates in Republic (427e, ff.):
Agathon argues that Eros exemplifies the virtues of justice, temperance, courage, and
wisdom. This is a novel development on his part. Phaedrus spoke of courage, but
only in the sense of courage in the eyes of one’s beloved. Pausanias subsumed all
virtues under erotic attraction, and even claimed that any base behavior is acceptable
when in the throes of such passion. Aristophanes did not speak of virtue at all, and
Eryximachus (188c-d) spoke only of “gratifying” or “fulfilling” the orderly Eros
through knowledge, temperance, and justice (omitting courage, and not actually
ascribing these virtues to Eros). In Republic, Plato is deeply concerned with the
question of how souls can be encouraged to exemplify all the virtues mentioned by
Agathon. Thus the ascription of precisely these four virtues to Eros in Agathon’s
speech is an indication of the seriousness with which we are to consider his account.
27
28
Grube, p. 100.
Ferrari, p. 252.
12
The third section of Agathon’s speech is a continuation of his discussion of
Eros’ wisdom, and concerns Eros as educator and motivator to education. Eros
teaches all poets, because only and everyone Eros touches become poets:
we may fittingly use this as proof that Eros is a poet who is, in sum, good in
respect to all creation over which the Muses preside; for one could not give
someone else or teach another what one neither has nor knows. (196e)
Note that this echoes the reasoning behind Socrates’ criticism of mimetic artists in
Republic (598b-600e). There Socrates reasons that, if artists like Homer really had
knowledge of the things they described, they would be revered as educators of virtue,
rather than as artists. Because they are not educators, they must not have knowledge
that can improve men’s souls. Agathon’s Eros is not subject to this criticism, because
he is a teacher as well as an artist. First, Agathon has shown himself (195 b-c)
capable of critically examining claims by poets like Hesiod and Phaedrus (rejecting
their claim that Eros is older than Kronos and Iapetus), preferring instead to reason
out Eros’ age by the philosophical principle that “like attracts like.”29 Second, Eros is
the “teacher” of the divine experts on archery, medicine, metalworking, weaving, and
even the “guiding of gods and men” (197a-b). Note that, in Republic, the highest
calling for men, beyond the contemplation of the Forms, is the guidance of the city
(539e-540c). Agathon’s description makes Eros a kind of guardian. Furthermore, the
duties of the guardians described in Republic are said to be secondary to their duty to
look after the education of the young (423d-e). In light of the importance of
education in Republic, Agathon’s description of Eros as a teacher—the ultimate
teacher, really— strongly suggests that his views are intended to be read as relatively
sophisticated.
29
As pointed out in Corrigan and Glazov-Corrigan, p. 87.
13
Agathon’s immediate predecessor in the original order, Eryximachus, also
relates Eros to all human practices; however, Agathon’s connection between Eros
and human practices is more sophisticated, from a Platonic standpoint, than
Eryximachus’. The latter’s Eros manifests itself in the form of good and bad desires
that can be moderated by these human practices. He does not explain, however, what
guides these practices in their moderative functions; without such guidance, all kinds
of bad practices may issue. Doctors, for example, need to be taught how to heal, or
“balance the body’s desires.” Otherwise, they could do more harm than good.
Agathon’s Eros is perfectly suited to fulfill this educational function for Eryximachus
and his peers.
Republic centers on the development of a guardian class whose members
exemplify Plato’s four cardinal virtues, and whose function is to supervise the
practices of the citizens. Compare this to Agathon’s Eros, who exemplifies Plato’s
four cardinal virtues and who is a teacher of human practices, including the guidance
of men! Agathon’s speech clearly presents an Eros who, from Plato’s standpoint, is
more sophisticated than the Eros of the previous speakers. His speech, furthermore,
echoes several central doctrines expressed in Republic, and closely foreshadows
Socrates’ speech in Symposium. If the order of speeches in Symposium represents an
ascent, it makes perfect sense that Agathon’s speech should immediately precede that
of Socrates.
V.
The ascent recapitulated
Socrates’ conception of Eros displays many similarities to Agathon’s. As
quoted by Socrates, Diotima characterizes Eros as a lover of knowledge (204b)—a
characterization that is suggested by Agathon’s conception of Eros as knowledgeable
in all fields of human endeavor. In defining Eros, Diotima, like Agathon, links the
14
god with poetry and then to other pursuits, like money-making, athletics and
philosophy (205c-d). For Diotima, Eros involves creation and “begetting in beauty”
(208c-209e). Men can be creatively pregnant with respect to their body or soul (208e209a). Pregnancy of the soul leads to “practical wisdom and the rest of virtue—of
which, indeed, all the poets are procreators, and as many craftsmen are said to be
inventors” (209a); note that Agathon had mentioned specifically that Eros is the
teacher of poets and craftsmen. Diotima continues by saying that the highest form of
practical wisdom is “that concerned with the right ordering of cities and households.”
This right ordering is called “temperance and justice” —virtues Agathon also
ascribes to Eros. Diotima then works toward the idea of Eros as love of beauty and
what is good, and, in its most pure form, love of Beauty and the Good itself (211c-d).
To this end, Diotima describes a “ladder,” where the preceding speeches find
their proper place (210a-e). If one ascends this ladder, one attains that for which love
truly exists—the Beautiful itself (211a-212a). The ladder represents how one is to
proceed “rightly” to the highest kind of knowledge (210a), and dealing in imagery
and imagination is no part of this process. In Republic, the education of the guardian
excludes many kinds of poetry, and education in dialectic is delayed until the student
is old and wise enough not to be tempted to use that skill degenerately (539b-c).
As in Republic and Phaedrus, the ladder is a metaphor evoking an ascent to
virtue via development of character. Diotima’s ascent moves from “bodily beauty,
through spiritual and intellectual beauties, to the contemplation of Beauty itself.” We
now see that this perfectly recapitulates the preceding speeches. The first three
speakers in Symposium—Phaedrus, Pausanias, and Aristophanes—all tie Eros to sex
and carnal desire. Aristophanes’ conception is more sophisticated than those of
Phaedrus and Pausanias: he departs from their focus on appearance, and, although he
15
sees sex as the primary symptom of love, he also sees sex as a means to a feeling of
spiritual wholeness, in addition to the satisfaction of physical desire. Eryximachus
suggests a relationship between bodily beauty and spiritual or intellectual beauty. As
a doctor, he is concerned with craft-knowledge of bodies in general. His task, and the
task he prescribes for medicine, is to moderate good and bad desires in the body so to
preserve its health and beauty. In addition, he recognizes that this manipulation of
eros occurs in educational and cultural pursuits. Thus Eryximachus’ speech serves as
a bridge between the corporeal and intellectual/spiritual realms. Agathon is the first
to see Eros as primarily concerned with the soul. For him, Eros’ primary function is
that of an educator leading its students to knowledge and proficiency in the arts and
in politics. This conception strongly anticipates Socrates, who sees Eros as the
motivating force behind the various human arts and practices, as well as the search
for knowledge. Eros is linked by both Agathon and Socrates with the Platonic
cardinal virtues. Agathon holds that Eros is wise and beautiful, even as Socrates
describes him as a lover of wisdom and beauty. Agathon’s Eros is involved with
beautiful practices and so reflects the penultimate step on Diotima’s ladder, the
ultimate goal of which is the appreciation of the beauty of knowledge and the
contemplation of the Beautiful itself. This ascent, which reiterates the speeches of
Symposium, in the same way reiterates the ascents described in Republic via the
divided line and the cave: from immersion in bodies and the material world, to
sciences and studies, up to contemplation of the Forms.
The first stage of Diotima’s ascent concerns bodily attraction (210a). This
stage—where most of us are stuck—is represented by Phaedrus, Pausanias, and
Aristophanes. Next comes appreciation for what makes bodies in general beautiful
(210b), as is required for a physician like Eryximachus, with his craft-knowledge of
16
bodies; he identifies illness with disharmony and internal erotic conflict. After this,
according to Diotima, one realizes that “beauty in souls is more to be valued than
beauty in bodies” (210b-c). Owing to this realization, one will turn to the young (as
Agathon says Eros does [195b]) and encourage them to “contemplate what is
beautiful in practices and laws.” The person at this stage of development, pregnant in
soul and inspired by Eros, teaches the young about human practices: the arts, crafts,
and politics. Agathon, recall, describes Eros as a teacher of all these practices. Eros,
for him, exemplifies the Socratic virtues, and is the educator of the Gods in the
various arts and crafts and in politics. His Eros thus matches this stage of
development. For Diotima, this is the stage that comes just before “beautiful
studies”—exemplified by Socrates and the elenchic method he deploys in correcting
Agathon—and the final ascent to contemplation of the Beautiful itself (210c-212a).
One thus ascends to Beauty
as though using the steps of a ladder, from one to two, and from two to all
beautiful bodies, and from beautiful bodies to beautiful practices, and from
practices to beautiful studies, and from studies one arrives at the end at that
study which is nothing other than the study of that, the Beautiful itself (211c).
The one who masters this final study is the philosopher, who alone gazes upon the
Forms and the Beautiful itself. Diotima’s ladder thus serves much the same function
as the divided line and the cave metaphor in Republic.
The coda of Symposium is the wild and desperate contribution by an
intoxicated Alcibiades, followed by his interaction with Socrates. There is a very nice
parallel between this interaction and the last element of Republic’s cave, wherein the
philosopher returns to the cave to guide the unenlightened.30 Alcibiades enters and
30
As proposed in discussion by Isaac Nevo.
17
describes the erotic gap between himself and Socrates, as well as the corresponding
difference in virtue (215a-222b). He undertakes to praise Socrates “through images”
(215b); recall that understanding through images is, for Plato, the only means of
understanding available to the corrupted who have not even begun the path to
knowledge. Alcibiades recognizes his deficiencies in self-examination and the virtues
of the philosopher; he is “ashamed” before Socrates, whose words make him realize
how much he lacks the proper virtues (216a-c). At the same time, he recognizes how
Socrates exemplifies these virtues (219d, 220d-221c, 222a). He wants to ascend to
Socrates’ level, but apparently does not have the willpower to do so. In an attempt at
a shortcut, Alcibiades attempts to seduce him (217a-219d). Socrates, however,
recognizes his intent (218e-219a). He sees Alcibiades as attempting to exchange
“beauty for beauty”; though in Alcibiades’ case the beauty in question is mere
“comeliness of form,” the appearance of beauty. In Socrates’ case, of course, the
beauty in question is what is “truly beautiful.” To exchange the one for the other,
Socrates says, would be like exchanging “bronze for gold”—the image of beauty for
the reality. Though humiliated by this rejection, Alcibiades realizes that Socrates is
correct, and that what is truly beautiful is not something that can be won through
physical means. The superiority of contemplation over the body is further illustrated
by what follows (219e-220d), wherein Alcibiades describes Socrates’ transcendence
of physical hardship. He characterizes Socrates as impervious to physical threat, cold,
lack of food, and drunkenness (see also 214a, 223d). Alcibiades’ speech thus
eloquently and dramatically illustrates the difference between the realm of images
and corporeal things and the intellectual realm. It wraps up the dialogue by
comparing the virtuous, serene, and godlike Socrates (219b) with the tortured soul of
18
one who partially appreciates his point of view but who has been unable to follow his
lead.
This interpretation of Symposium as a reflection of the Platonic ascent to
understanding and virtue has the advantage of being much simpler and more
plausible than other ascent interpretations. In taking seriously the whole of a carefully
crafted work, it has an inherent advantage over the many readings that ignore the
hiccupping incident or Agathon’s speech. This reading of the structure of Symposium
construes it as an aesthetically appealing elucidation of the core message of Republic,
and a companion to Plato’s dialogues—Republic and Phaedrus—that focus on the
path to virtue.31
Bibliography
Corrigan, K. and Glazov-Corrigan, E. (2004). Plato’s Dialectic at Play. University
Park: Pennsylvania University Press.
Dorter, Kenneth. (1992). “A Dual Dialectic in the Symposium.” Philosophy and
Rhetoric, 25(3), 253-270.
Ferrari, G.R.F. (1992). “Platonic Love.” In The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Ed.
by Richard Kraut. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grube, G.M.A. (1958). Plato’s Thought. Boston: Beacon Press.
Guthrie, W.K.C. (1975). A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol. IV. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
31
I am indebted to Bruce Aune, Emily Austin, Kyle Hubbard, Charles Lewis, Patrick Myers, and
several anonymous reviewers for their generous comments on earlier versions of this paper. This
paper was presented at the 2010 meeting of the Israeli Philosophical Association, and I am
grateful for comments by several of the participants in that session.
19
Lowenstam, Stephen. (1986). “Aristophanes’ Hiccups”. Greek, Roman, and
Byzantine Studies 27, 43-56.
Nettleship, Richard. (1962). Lectures on Republic of Plato. London: Macmillan &
Company.
Plato. Symposium. (1932). Ed. by R.G. Bury. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
-----. Symposium. (1970). Trans. by Suzy Q. Groden. Ed. by John A. Brentlinger. The
University of Massachusetts Press.
-----. Symposium. (1991). Trans. by R.E. Allen. New Haven: Yale University Press.
-----. Republic. (1992). Trans. by G.M.A. Grube. Rev. by C.D.C. Reeve.
Indianapolis: Hackett.
Reeve, C.D.C. (2006). “A Study in Violets: Alcibiades in the Symposium”. Plato’s
Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and Reception. Ed. by James Lesher,
Debra Nails, and Frisbee Sheffield. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Rosen, Stanley. (1987). Plato’s Symposium. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Sheffield, Frisbee. (2006). “The Role of the Earlier Speeches in the Symposium:
Plato’s Endoxic Method?” Plato's Symposium: Issues in Interpretation and
Reception. Ed. by James Lesher, Debra Nails, and Frisbee Sheffield,
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
20